Delhi gang-rape incident: Asaram blames Nirbhaya, sparks furore

“Galati ek taraf se nahi hoti (mistake is never from one side alone).” Ranted the godman, who can count several thousand followers across the country.

TNN | Jan 8, 2013, 05.14 AM IST

Delhi gang-rape incident: Asaram blames Nirbhaya, sparks furore

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AHMEDABAD/JAIPUR: Controversial Ahmedabad-based godman Asaram plunged to fresh depths by saying that the Delhi gang rape victim was equally responsible for the fatal attack on her that has outraged the collective conscience of the nation.

Asaram, known for his foot-in-the-mouth tendency, said at a gathering near Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan on Sunday that if the girl had chanted the 'Saraswati mantra', she would never have stepped into the bus with her boyfriend.

"She should have taken God's name and could have held the hand of one of the men and said I consider you as my brother and should have said to the other two, brother I am helpless, you are my brother, my religious brother. She should have taken God's name and held their hands and feet...then the misconduct wouldn't have happened.

"Galati ek taraf se nahi hoti (mistake is never from one side alone)." Ranted the godman, who can count several thousand followers across the country, many of them middle-aged women from small cities and towns.

The remark expectedly evoked a furore and about 100 activists of Bharatiya Samajik Sena took to the streets in Ahmedabad and raised slogans against the self-styled godman. BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said Asaram's statement was "regrettable, deeply disturbing and painful".

On Monday, Asaram continued on the track undeterred, while addressing his followers in Faridabad, where he claimed the gang rape of the 23-year-old Nirbhaya, a physiotherapy intern at a Delhi hospital, has unleashed an "anti-men" campaign and cautioned that any new law on crime against women may be misused by vested interests, like it had happened in the case of anti-dowry laws.

The controversial guru, who recently slapped a journalist publicly, has been in trouble with the law following mysterious death of two young boys, Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela, at his sprawling ashram in Ahmedabad, where he conducts satsangs for thousands dressed in flowing white robes and wearing flower garlands. The two kids were found dead in 2008. Asaram's supporters had gone on a rampage, attacking mediamen, at a rally organized in support of the guru.

In September last, Asaram had threatened to throw out the Modi government if the state government did not stop atrocities against his followers.

In July 2008, amidst protests and demonstrations over mysterious death of Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela, Asaram exhorted thousands of his followers to take on the forces out to defame him. Violent clashes followed. The public outrage led Gujarat government to set up a judicial inquiry. Asaram blamed a hostile media and "foreign forces" for the row.

In 2010, Asaram faced allegation of making an attempt on the life of his estranged former aide Raju Chandak, who was attacked by two bikers in Ahmedabad. Asaram ran for legal cover, but Gujarat high court and later the Supreme Court refused to quash charges against him.

Asaram's ashrams across the state are accused of encroachment. The Ahmedabad district collector reclaimed land admeasuring 6,000 square metres that was encroached upon by the ashram in Ahmedabad in 2009. Similarly, Gujarat high court ordered Asaram's trust in Surat to return 34,800 square metres of encroached land to the civic body.

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